Michael Spence is in his first season as an assistant coach on the University of Oklahoma staff.

Spence guided the men’s cross country team to its highest ranking ever at No. 3 in the country and a sixth-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

At the Big 12 Championships, the team placed second, a best for the Sooners at the meet. A total of six Sooners claimed All-Big 12 honors in College Station.

Oklahoma continued its pace in the NCAA Midwest Regional as the Sooners placed second. All seven of Oklahoma’s runners placed inside the top 25, earning All-Regional honors. Kevin Schwab placed second overall for the second consecutive year to lead the Sooners to a third-straight NCAA Championship berth.

Bill Kogel earned Oklahoma’s sixth All-America honor, leading the Sooners to their second-best finish in program history at the 2011 NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships.

Spence came to Oklahoma from Utah State University where he was a graduate assistant and volunteer assistant coach for the past two years. While with the Aggies, he helped coached nine NCAA West region qualifiers, 10 Western Athletic Conference individual champions and produced 86 All-WAC Conference performers in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. Spence was also a member of five WAC championship winning coaching staffs in all three disciplines with the Aggies.

The Spence File

Hometown

East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Education

B.A., Economics Princeton, 2000

Family

wife, Kristi

Coaching History

2011-present, University of Oklahoma Assistant Coach

2009-2011, Utah State University Volunteer Assistant Coach

Spence was Team USA’s captain and the top United States finisher at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya. He earned a silver medal in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He is a five-time USATF national team member and a six-time top 10 finisher in USATF championship events. Spence finished sixth in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trails in Eugene, Ore.

A 2000 graduate of Princeton University, Spence earned All-America honors in 1999 and captained the Tigers’ cross country team that same year. He earned the Morgan Award in 2000 for exemplifying spirit, determination, integrity and sportsmanship on the track. He was the 1997 USATF junior national champion in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Spence is married to the former Kristi Rosso, a top 10 women's finisher at the 2007 New York City Marathon. She also ran at the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials and was captain of the 2000 Princeton women's cross country team.

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